CMLC 2026-05-03 Sermon

Howdy You know whenever I was younger my my dad

always liked to speak in parables and stories

Half the time they actually made sense. So that

was always nice But he had this one where he

would say that I always needed to make sure that

I was listening to him and he would give this

story where There was a boy that was running

out through a field and all of a sudden his father

yells out stop Don't run And the boy stops and

he's saying, why? Why, dad? He said, just come

back to me slowly. What's going on, dad? I don't

understand. It's OK. Just come to me. Don't worry

about it. Just don't go any farther. Come back

here. And finally the kid, oh, whatever. And

he finally gets back to his dad. He's walking

slowly, oh, just like this, dad. And then finally

he gets to the dad. The dad picks him up and

he shows him that right at his feet where he

was standing, was a snake. And from then on,

I knew that if I did not listen to my dad completely,

I'd be bitten by a snake. So, that's one way

to keep your kids in line, so there you go. But

you know, this idea though, of we don't always

know what's always in front. Being willing to

trust what we've been told by Christ Himself.

That's something that we often times lose sight

of. If you've ever listened to how rescue teams

or emergency crews talk about critical moments,

there's a pattern where you can't always know

the whole plan in advance. You just have to know

that next step. And they stay with the one who

is giving the directions. Because in unstable

situations, disasters, emergencies, moments where

time matters, you can't wait until everything

makes sense before you move. If you wait for

everything to have full clarity, you may never

move at all. So you don't need the whole plan,

you just need to know who it is that you trust

to follow their lead. During the Apollo 13 mission,

when too many issues were arising, astronauts

had to follow the step -by -step instructions

from mission control without fully understanding

what they were working out on the ground. During

Hurricane Katrina rescue operations rescue teams

often had to act with incomplete information

Because waiting for clarity might have cost lives

that hung in the balance each and every minute

and In moments like September 11th when the first

responders were there. They didn't have a full

picture, but they still needed to walk forward

Knowing that they were with someone that they

trusted to lead them In each case, the question

wasn't, do we understand everything? It was,

do we trust enough to take that next step? This

morning, we're looking at what I'd call a tale

of two situations. Yes, that is the pun for today.

You're welcome. Not two different truths, not

two different paths, but two very different responses

to the same question. In one situation, You have

the disciples who were sitting with Jesus Christ

and they're confused. They're unsettled. They're

asking all these questions. But in the other,

you have Stephen who is standing in front of

a crowd that is already turning against him as

a follower of Christ. But Stephen keeps speaking

even when it will eventually cost him his own

life. Because remember, Stephen was the first

martyr of the church. after the resurrection.

One group was asking, do we know the way? But

this other man is already walking it. So here's

what we're going to do today. We're going to

walk through what Jesus is saying in John 14,

piece by piece. And every time we do, we're going

to look at Stephen and ask, what does that actually

look like in real life? Because it's one thing

to nod along in a quiet room when everything

is stable and calm. It's another thing to live

out in the world when the room is not quiet anymore.

John says about Jesus, Jesus is saying, let not

your hearts be troubled. That word troubled,

it means stirred up. It means shaken, like water

in a storm. So let's not pretend that the disciples

are calm and thoughtful here. We read the Gospel

of John and we treat it as this nice, calm book

of all these teachings. This is the night when

Jesus was betrayed. Jesus has been talking about

things not only regarding the one who would betray

him, who could have been anyone, but also as

if he's about to leave them. And so they're anxious.

They know something is wrong. They just don't

know what. And Jesus does something interesting.

He doesn't give them a timeline. He doesn't give

them a strategy. Here are all the things that

you need to do when you're not sure how to move

forward. He gives them Himself. Believe in God,

believe also in Me. The disciples want clarity

about the future. But Jesus gives them certainty

only about Himself. And that's important because

it tells us something about how God works. God

does not always answer your questions about what

is to come, but He always anchors you in who

He already is. But let's look a little bit at

Stephen again. Stephen is described as full of

grace and power. Luke... Writing in the book

of Acts is saying that he is pleris caritas cae

Domineus, full of grace and power. Grace or carus

means God's active favor. His presence is resting

on a person in a way that shows up in real life,

not just head knowledge. And power, the dynamis,

that's where we get words like dynamite. But

in the New Testament, it's not explosions or

destruction or terrible sitcoms catchphrases.

It's spirit -empowered strength that produces

visible action and endurance. So Stephen is not

described as a man who is just good at serving

tables. He's described as someone saturated with

God himself. Stephen wasn't assigned to something

small. Isn't that so easy for us to think of

when it talks about this phrase? Well, you go

take care of serving the tables. Good pat on

the head. Stephen is not just sitting there asking

questions, but rather now the person who was

serving the tables is now facing real and immediate

opposition. I can assure you this is not what

they had in mind when they put him on those tables.

See, Stephen, we know that he is full of grace

and power, but he's not full of answers. He's

not clear on everything that is to come. He's

full of the presence of God. See, the disciples,

they wanted clarity before they could move. But

Stephen? He already has enough clarity in Christ

Jesus to stand. When we heard from John that

Thomas is saying what everyone is thinking, we

don't know where you're going, how can we know

the way? That's not a bad question. We keep spending

week after week getting after Thomas for all

the things that in reality we would have said

ourselves. We don't know where you're going.

How can we know the way? That's very revealing.

Because what Thomas is really saying is, I'm

not sure I can follow unless I understand everything

to expect. And let's just be honest. How often

is that the same in our prayer lives? We're not

always asking for guidance. Sometimes we're asking

for guarantees. God... I see this job in front

of me. I think this would be amazing. So could

you go ahead and give me that job? But only if

it's your will, God. But I'd really like that

job. Or God, I'm really struggling in this relationship.

I'd really like for you to be able to give us

honesty, good communication, figure out why it

is that I made them really upset on Friday night

at me. I don't know what the issue is, but if

you could just solve that, that'd be great because

we've got tickets to rodeo. Lord God, I need

to figure out why it is that over here I can't

seem to get my health where I want it to be.

So Lord God, if you could somehow just bless

All of the food and all of the nourishment that

I receive, especially that donut today, make

it fat free. How often is it that we're seeking

out with God how to take the paths that we want

and just make sense of them? But you see, what

does Jesus say? You know how He does all of those

I am statements? He does that here. I am the

way, the truth, and the life. This isn't about

directions to follow. It's not giving them a

map. It's saying, you already have the way because

you have me. The way is not something you figure

out. The way is not some path you're trying to

follow that you've figured out. It's someone

that you follow. So when we're looking at Stephen,

and it says they appointed people to serve tables,

the phrase in the book of Acts says, And that's

where we get the word deacon. But you see, in

the New Testament, deacon is not about a lower

status. It's about a designated service. It's

specifying what they're going to do. So it's

not less spiritual work. It's not as if you've

got, oh, here are the pastors, here are the elders,

here are the deacons. That all of us have different

roles that are so important to what the church

does It's about structure Intentionality for

the good of the body. So when the church appoints

deacons, it's not saying well These are the ones

that do lesser things because they can't do something

else These are the people who are entrusted with

what is essential because service is not opposite

to the power of the spirit It's one of its expressions

You've probably seen it before the people who

set things up, the ones who clean up, the ones

who are checking on people quietly, the times

whenever Annie is asking to make sure that we've

got volunteers for the next event, and everybody's

like, did you sign up to prep? Yeah, I don't

want to stay afterward to clean up. We know.

But you know, people aren't on the stage because

it's about what you can see them doing. That's

why even in this congregation, we don't separate

those who serve from those who lead and those

who study. The people who are closest to the

needs are often the ones who see what the rest

of us miss. This is why we've been making sure

that anybody in any form of leadership here is

also someone who is involved in worship, study,

fellowship, serving, and giving. And also why

anybody who is also serving in some capacity

is in worship and studying the Word. because

it's never one or the other. Stephen, then, he

doesn't pause his speech and say, alright, I'm

just a deacon, so let me go double check with

all the apostles and the elders and make sure

that I say everything exactly right. He speaks.

Because it is time. And that's where we often

get uncomfortable. Because there are a few places

where Stephen, he's retelling history, but we're

like, That doesn't sound right. Like, he says

Abraham bought a burial place in Shechem. But

in Genesis, Abraham bought a burial cave in Hebron

while Jacob is later associated with Shechem.

So, Stephen's kind of like blurring together

the details a little bit, sort of like whenever

the pastor accidentally says Moses instead of

Noah in a sermon and someone in the back has

to correct him. Never happened here. Or it talks

about 75 people went to Egypt with Jacob, but

the Hebrews said it was 70. It was the Greek

translation of the Old Testament that said 75.

And that's what Stephen probably would have had

at that time, the Hellenistic Jews, the ones

who were reading in the Greek. But was that the

actual dependable number? Or Stephen's saying

that Moses had 40 years, 40 years, and 40 years,

and that structure isn't laid out that neatly.

But you see, Stephen, he's emphasizing the stages,

not a strict timeline. So, do we look at this

and say, ah, the details don't matter? Or do

we say, ah, you can't really trust the Bible?

You see, it's contradicting itself. What it's

doing is that Stephen isn't trying to say I've

got all the details right He's being a faithful

witness he's showing a pattern of God acting

people resisting and Even so they're resisting

his witness now See Steve is not worried about

if you got every detail, right? He's worried

about whether they're listening, but let's be

honest when we read his words We also start to

wonder, did he have to say it that way? Could

it Stephen have been a little more careful, a

little more strategic, a little less direct?

We know what it's like to be in a world of conflict.

Was Stephen really being faithful, or was he

just being too unnecessarily antagonistic? But

if we're not careful, we start to put ourselves

in the role of evaluating. And we sit at a distance

and say, what would have been done better if

we had handled it? How often before we judge

Stephen, do we need to recognize that we do the

same thing when we look at anything in history?

We always assume we would have done better than

the people who have lived in it. Think about

the early 1900s and all the child labor laws,

kids that were eight years old working in factories,

and the reformers pushing to change that. Yet

there were already people saying, you're disrupting

the economy. Or women's suffrage and the right

to vote leading up to 1920, but people even saying,

why do you need to push that? Can't you just

wait? Or even the civil rights movement of the

50s and 60s and the marches and the sit -ins

and the protests and people saying, it's too

fast, it's too much, you're too confrontational.

But even today, there are people who still look

back on these moments and question Why they pushed

as hard as they did to protect children and to

listen to women and to give equal rights to all,

even wondering why they had to make such a big

deal about it. Yes, people today even question

why those who fought for child protections, women's

rights, and equal rights for minorities, and

why they had to be so difficult. But you see,

here's a question that we have to ask honestly.

Are we second guessing what was necessary in

the moment? Because we live on the other side

of it. Faithfulness in the moment often looks

uncomfortable to those watching from a distance.

So when we put the two situations side by side,

the disciples say, we don't know the way, and

Stephen walks forward without knowing the outcome.

The disciples want clarity before they obey.

Stephen obeys before he has clarity. And this

is where it comes to us. Because we don't usually

reject truth outright. We don't reject truth.

We just adjust it. We make it a little more comfortable.

Last week we heard from Reverend Chris Yang,

who's about to go to mainland China. You see,

in China the expectation is not always that you

abandon your faith, but it's that you reshape

it. That faith gets filtered, adjusted, brought

into alignment with what their government approves

of. It's not, don't believe, it's believe, but

in a way that we're comfortable with. Before

we think that that's just something for other

people, how often do we say, yes, I will confess

Jesus, but maybe if I say it this way, people

will like it better. Yes, I will serve Jesus,

but Maybe I can wait a little longer. Yes, I

will believe in Jesus, but maybe there's a version

of this whole Jesus thing that's easier. And

at some point, maybe we have to ask better questions.

Not just, is what I'm doing godly? Because let's

be honest, following God, we make that mean a

lot of different things in our minds. But can

I actually picture Jesus saying this? doing this

Standing here Because you cannot redefine Jesus

We're very creative We're not that creative But

here's where we need to be careful Because let's

be honest if we're trying to be more like Stephen

We're all in trouble His example is not the place

where we find our salvation. Jesus Himself is.

Jesus is the way that we keep failing to walk

perfectly. Jesus is the truth that we sometimes

try to soften. Jesus is the life that holds us

even when we hesitate. He does not say, find

the way. He says, I am the way. So this week,

what I challenge you is, It's not to ask, do

I understand the way of Jesus? It's asking, am

I still walking with Jesus? Am I adjusting Jesus

to fit where I want to go instead? Be honest,

there are places where we already know the answer

to that. The places where we've hesitated. The

places where we've negotiated with God. The places

where clarity just became an excuse to delay.

But here's a better word that Jesus gives today

It's not saying catch up because you're way too

behind He's saying I am the way with you right

now and that means this The weight of your life

is not held up by how perfectly you followed

him or but rather by how faithfully he continues

to hold you It's not about how clean our obedience

is we're saved because of how complete His mercy

is. Where you already know what is good, right,

and true, even if you don't get what's going

to happen, even if you're not sure what is to

come, take that next step. Not because you know

what's going to happen next, but because even

when you don't move fast enough, you are still

held by the One who is the way. May He continue

to strengthen us and encourage us now and always.

Amen.